Huwebes, Hunyo 11, 2015

I was with the public relation (PR) men of a presidential aspirant the other day. One of them told me that when his PR man, a guy involved in corruption charges in the past, showed him his political advertisement bills on TV, radio, and newspapers, the aspirant nearly fell from his chair.

Pangasinan OIC Provincial Director Senior Supt. Rolie Saltat (2nd from right). He is an amicable member of the Class of 1987 of the Philippine National Police Academy

Why? Gee whiz, it was a staggering P200 million infomercials in the past months and election is still 11 months away.

This presidential bet has been telling all and sundry that he has no moist eye for the presidency but yet he has the propensity to put several P250,000 per 30 “seconder” on the three major TV stations in the country.

***

This story was narrated to me by a chief of police (COP) who asked the mayor if he wants the COP to kill the paramour (kalaguyo) of his wife.

The COP told me that the mayor and the wife have lucrative piggery business. But the good looking “magbababoy” ni Mayor absconded, er, ran off with the mayor’s wife.

A campaign manager of then presidential candidate Fernando Poe,Jr and
the No.1 supporter of Senator Grace Poe in Pangasinan said that the latter will
be joining a coalition of political parties and not the Liberal Party in case
she decides to run for the presidency in the 2016 election.

Rosendo So (extreme right), renowned political kingmaker in Pangasinan, poses with (from left) former Congressman Mark Cojuangco, the chair ofthe Nationalist People's Coalition in the province, Senators Grace Poe andChiz Escudero. Both senators have been a long time allies of So and Co-juangco.

Rosendo So, a renowned kingmaker of the 3 million populated province,
said that Senator Poe would not be running under the Liberal Party (LP) or the
Nationalist People’s Coalition but she would take shelter on the coalition of
major political parties sans LP that believe her as the real deal on the 2016
presidential election.

“The other parties that would coalesce for her presidential bid are any of
the following: NPC, Nationalista
incase Senator Alan Peter Cayetano
foregoes his presidential ambition, Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan
in case Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte nixes his presidential bid, People
Power-Christian Muslim Democrats under Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, Centrist
Democratic Party of the Philippines
under Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, Kilusang Bagong Lipunan under Rep. Imelda
Marcos, Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino under former Senator Edgardo Angara,
Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino under former President Joseph Estrada , and People's
Reform Party under Senator Merriam Santiago,” a source, who asked anonymity,
who is closed to Senator Poe, said.

The same source said the lady senator, who was breathing 4 points behind
Vice President Jejomar Binay for the presidential run in 2016 based on the May
8 to 18 survey of Manila Standard Today (MST), will not join the LP because the
leadership and the card carrying members there would fight tooth and nail for
Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas' inclusion as the presidential contender of
the party that adopted President Benigno Aquino III in the 2010 presidential
election.

The source doubts Roxas can win the presidential derby as its stocks
continue to plunge as reflected by the latest survey. He placed No. 4 with
Senator Santiago with eight percentages each.

The MST surveys, published too by the prestigious Rapple.com online
magazine, saw Binay in No.1 with 28 percent, Poe in No. 2 with 24 percentages
point.

Manila Mayor Estrada and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte were
tied in third place with 10 percent each.

Senator Francis Escudero was in fifth place at four percent; Senators
Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Cayetano were tied in sixth place at three
percent each; and former Senator Panfilo Lacson was in seventh place at one
percent.

Those polled were also most likely to give their vote to Poe if their
preferred presidential bet decided to withdraw from the race.

Among the possible candidates for vice president, Poe led the pack at 23
percent with Escudero at close second at 16 percent.